Being born and brought up near London Heathrow Airport, I love travelling and meeting new people. I’ve lived in Australia, worked in different businesses and been married to John for many years. I love helping families with their celebrations, often as a toastmaster MC. Toastmasters help at weddings and couples asked about ceremonies, so I became an English Celebrant. My ceremonies include weddings, partnerships, renewal of vows, namings, and many are for couples who want something different and special to them.

Can I help? Advice or classes. ‘How to be a Best Man’- your speech etc. ‘Beginners’ Guide to Wedding Etiquette’ - for all. I’m also a Before-ceremony MC, guiding guests, helping photographer, etc.

Member of Independent Celebrants Alliance and Northern Guild of Toastmasters. Was independent celebrant member of Society of Registrars/Association of Registration and Celebration Services.

Ceremonies
I will write a unique ceremony for you, (non or part religious) that can be held almost anywhere, hotel, house or garden, and at almost any time. (If taking place outside, please remember the British weather!)Wedding – A weddings can be in two parts – the Registrar’s legal formalities (UK or overseas) and then the ceremony for family and friends. A personally designed ceremony often appeals to continentals, those of different cultures, or who want a more individual style. Ceremony package – www.barwelluk.co.ukRenewal of Vows – Got married overseas? Married for 3 or 30 years? Celebrating a special anniversary? Whatever reason, renew the loving promises you made. Civil Partnership – Had the partnership formalities overseas or in private? Celebrate with a ceremony for family and friends.Commitment – An informal ceremony with your special promises. Family – Naming – A ceremony to present and welcome a new addition to the family. Adoption – This welcoming ceremony can take place between the new family member and parents/guardians. Step-families – A ceremony to celebrate the joining of two families.Funeral - celebrate a lifeStages of life – A ceremony can be designed for special events - birthdays, graduation,
coming of age, divorce, new home, new business, etc.

** Bring your marriage/partnership certificate. No certificate needed for commitment or betrothal. Current UK law does not allow celebrants to do wedding legalities **

Throughout Britain’s history,toasting has been an important social custom,especially for Vikings and Ancient Romans. The word ‘toast’is from an Ancient Roman word ‘tostus’ meaning ‘baked dry’ and from the custom of the toaster placing a dry piece of bread into the drink and eating it as part of the toasting ceremony. The custom carried on through to the Middle Ages when the bread became spiced to help improve the flavour of wine.‘Toast’ is mentioned in Shakespeare ’s Merry Wives of Windsor'– Falstaff: "Go fetch me a quart of sack: put a toast in’t”. By King Charles II’s reign the spiced toast was also being put into tankards of beer. One story of that time is a celebrated beauty was bathing at the Cross Bath (in the city of Bath). An admirer is said to have drunk fellow-guests’ health with a glass of bath water, whilst another admirer (slightly inebriated) said he would jump into the water for ‘although he liked not the liquor, he would have the toast’, meaning of course the lady herself.
Toasting formalities were part of high society’s strict etiquette, as mentioned in banquet details held in the Pump Room of Bath in 1649, and in Congreve’s play ‘Way of the World’ in 1700:“That on no account you encroach on the men’s prerogative, and presume to drink Health or Toast Fellows”.
Guilds, Livery Companies and trade associations, from about 1200AD, carried many old customs through the ages –including a communal punch bowl mixed (with a slice of toast of course) by a person of high standing, eg a senior soldier. This was a position of honour and during the 1700s many important households and guilds appointed their own ‘toastmaster’. (‘Stirrup Cup’ and ‘Loving Cup’ traditions continue to this day within the City of London.)
The red-coated toastmaster is a unique British tradition. The story of the red coat is that, about 1750, the Earl of Derby (who started the famous horserace) had his butler wear the Earl’s own Hunting Pink (red riding coat) to impress guests. Some toastmasters wore the 1700s silk knee-breeches and stockings until Edwardian times, but famous toastmaster William Knightsmith popularised the red tail coat around 1895 (his portrait hung in the Café de Paris till the 1980s.) Victorian full evening dress set the style for today (red tailed coat, white bow tie, wing collar, white starched waistcoat, black trousers), though the previous uniform of a black tail coat with sash is still worn within the City of London.
The Toastmaster developed into a personality during the Victorian age, and Livery Companies and Guilds in the City of London continued to engage their own toastmasters. Writers Dickens and Thackeray both mention a Mr James Toole Toastmaster for the East India Company. Other mentions of toastmasters include:

the Museum of London has a thick-walled toastmaster’s glass of 1731 which holds a minute amount of wine but looks full (maybe to help the toastmaster remain sober when proposing toasts?);

the British Library contains several books for toastmasters, the earliest being published in 1791;

Archival images show a picture of a ‘City Toastmaster’ with a top hat and a megaphone controlling crowds at the 1908 Olympic Games in London.

Toastmaster’s duties constantly evolve – from major domo or ‘guardian of etiquette’ in the 1700s (for example Beau Nash in Bath) to MC for big band dancing in the 1940s. Today’s toastmaster is a modern master of ceremonies, often in a business suit, but the red coat distinguishes the professional MC